Hostage to Abortion Politics

What's amazing about Senator John McCain's choice of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on the Republican ticket has nothing to do with her family, with her possible membership in the Alaska Independence Party (a goal of which was to move the state toward secession from the U.S.), her level of experience with the domestic economy and foreign policy, or even the number of years she has served as a state and local leader. And it's certainly not about her being a woman. What's amazing about the Palin choice is that a portion of the electorate has allowed the single issue of abortion to exert tremendous control over our nation's future.

It's clear from news reports that Senator McCain would have preferred either Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut or former homeland security chief Tom Ridge as his running mate (both of whom are pro-choice); the selection of Governor Palin was tactical, largely based on her anti-choice stance and solidifying the traditional Republican base. The votes Governor Palin would bring to the ticket, given her bona fide conservative credentials, would be votes that Senator McCain was not sure he'd hold--those of the nation's powerful, and highly organized, Christian right.

Knowing this, it is easy to see how broken our political system truly is. It reveals a deep distrust in women to make their own decisions about their bodies, and selecting this particular woman largely based on her stance on one issue is the latest insult not just to Governor Palin, but to women as a whole--and to our democracy.

The crusade against choice pivots around the deep societal fear of women's power to act as the authors of their own lives, the keepers of their own bodies. As Kristin Luker wrote in "Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood," the real issue at stake is the fear that women will abandon their traditional role and decide not be mothers, if given the choice. So who better to squelch that fear than a woman who is staunchly anti-choice -- even in cases of rape or incest.

Like Gov. Palin, I have five children, one of whom has special needs. I know what it takes to parent, and I deeply understand the work/family tradeoffs in the current American workplace. But unlike the governor, I want my children and grandchildren to inherit a world where those in power cannot make choices over female bodies. I want them to concentrate instead on the larger body politic and what best serves every woman, man and child in this country -- decisions on home loss and job loss and health care loss, national security, rising food prices, our standing in the world, climate control.

That's the way our country should "choose life" -- by choosing policies that don't condone torture or chain immigrant women to their beds while their children are taken away (it happened in Tennessee recently; look it up). I want leaders who think before they bomb, who won't send our sons and daughters to die in a senseless war. I don't want any American to have to choose food over medication, or work over education.

So yes, I "choose life," and I will choose only politicians who do the same. It has very little to do with abortion and everything to do with the lives that follow in the wake of birth.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate

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Comments

[maryellenrayofsun]

I agree with Sarah Palin that there is no excuse for abortion, not even in cases of rape or incest...My only issue with that is how can Palin support war and hunting ??? All life is sacred...
Peace, Out.....Mary Ellen Armstrong
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/maryellen
MaryEllenA­rmstrong.c­om

[orianna]

Palin, like McCain believe we have a God given right to bomb... Palin's church says it is God's will that be kill people in Iraq.. like she thinks it is God's will that the gas pipeline be built.... Religion to justify the means..... thus no truth in their worship.... McCain the War God worshipper and Palin the Oil God worshipper.

[GLaB]

"What's amazing about the Palin choice is that a portion of the electorate has allowed the single issue of abortion to exert tremendous control over our nation's future."

"So yes, I "choose life," and I will choose only politicians who do the same."

Do you ever even read what you've written?

Let's look at that again:

"...A PORTION OF THE ELECTORATE HAS ALLOWED THE SINGLE ISSUE OF ABORTION TO EXERT TREMENDOUS CONTROL..."
"...I WILL CHOOSE ONLY POLITICIANS WHO (CHOOSE LIFE)..."

Pot, meet kettle.

[caterpol]

Excellent post, and I admire the tone.

Palin may not have been McCain's first choice, but she certainly wins a lot of hearts and minds in the conservative community based on this one issue alone.

The think that irks me this time around though is the praise being bandied about. as if it's something we can all agree on. Like she and her daughter are "brave" to give birth. That we're supposed to be "proud" of them for this mere fact alone. It will be brave when they dedicate the next 20 years for the sole benefit of the child. I'll be "proud" when they raise a great human being.

Ironically, in the conservative community, you don't often hear "brave" and "proud" bandied about when it comes to poor inner city welfare mothers----married or not. Apparently, one needs the luxury of wealth/inf­rastructur­e to be considered heroic.

[GibbaMang]

As a man I am errily distrustful of people like Palin. I am pro choice because I do not feel the government has the right to tell woman what to do with her body. It's her body, her choice.

[Irisdavenport]

I just wish Obama would say what Bill Cinton said about Abortion. Clintion's response to the Abortion issue was pure and simple:

I TRUST AMERICAN WOMEN TO DO THE RIGHT THING REGARDING THIS INTIMATE AND PRIVATE DECISION.

The emphasis on the words TRUST and Amerian WOMEN. This puts the issue exactly where it should be and it always knocks Republicans on their heels. There is no way to defend against this statement.

[Mojane]

beautifully stated. i tried to make the same case in an essay years ago for an english course and got a "D" .... couldn't tie it up as you did. thanks.

[UpstateNY]

I don't find Pailn heroic because she choose to have her baby, millions of women have and bring up special-needs children everyday. Unfortunately, millions of teenage girls so face unwanted pregnacies. Having a child is a tremendous responsibility and not to be taken lightly.

Having a baby while a teenager often derails education and better careers and too often, it adversely affects the life of the child they give birth to. I believe that statistics will bear out that many (if not most) children of teenage mothers don't fare very well.

So, while I applaud the Palin family for supporting their daughter - what exactly is Sarah Palin (or the anti-choice people) proud of? Are they simply proud that this young woman is having the baby. "Earth to them" - having the baby is only the beginning. Come back in 20 years and see how that baby turned out; then they can be proud - as we are proud of the job done by another teenage mother. Barack Obama's mother had her child at 18 and raised him with the values and abilities we see today.

All Republican women who are praise Sarah Palin and her family should include Barack's mother in their praise!

[RallyGrrrl]

Marie Wilson - what a woman. On Gov. Sarah Palin as the choice for Republican VP:

"It reveals a deep distrust in women to make their own decisions about their bodies, and selecting this particular woman largely based on her stance on one issue is the latest insult not just to Governor Palin, but to women as a whole--and to our democracy.

"The crusade against choice pivots around the deep societal fear of women's power to act as the authors of their own lives, the keepers of their own bodies. As Kristin Luker wrote in "Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood," the real issue at stake is the fear that women will abandon their traditional role and decide not be mothers, if given the choice. "

Pure gold.

[RallyGrrrl]

Very well stated - and authentic; not rehashed points others have made. These are great points - "choosing life" goes beyond childbirth. Pro-Choice *is* pro-life. Excellently written, Marie Wilson; first rate.

[lincheryl]

How about "QUALITY" in life.

[PumaAnn]

Palin is an unabashed conservative who is anti-abortion. There's no question about that, and this issue may be the one that drives many women's votes today. I believe it is, anyway, just based on my chats with women.

However, it turns women into single-issue voters. That's a shame. The country is divided, clearly, on this issue. It's a shame to have an opportunity to work across the aisle and actually get something done that helps people be destroyed by this one issue.

[truthskr]

Well, at least women are voting on issues, even if largely on the basis of only one issue. And let's face it, the right to choose is a huge issue, the bellwether of issues, if you will, of our partisan political process. Regardless, I'd rather have people actually voting on issues than some of the other voters out there, such as PUMA members and the like, who are not voting on any issues but simply out of spite for the primary process.

[SheriChardonnay]

very well said! they always try and tie in abortion and say the progressice do this....

[XME]

Very good points. It's always galled me how much some go on about caring about the rights of "unborn humans", yet how little they seem to care about the rights of those who are already born, not to mention the lives of animals.

[Danigirl65]

Somewhere along the line, the term pro-choice has gotten negative publicity. I am for a woman's legal right to choose, this does not mean I am pro-abortion, hence the term pro-choice.

I simply do not feel it is up to men, and our government, to make decisions regarding our bodies and our thought process. As long as the Republican party holds onto, and vehemently preaches, a pro-life stance (but are also, ironically, pro death penalty which seems like an oxymoron to me) and promotes it by threatening the repeal of Roe v Wade, I will continue to vote Democratic in national elections and Independent in local elections.

Whether for abortion or against it, who are we to tell another individual they simply have no right to legally make that decision for themselves?? Haven't we been down that road before??

[slr249]

You hit the nail on the head. I have never understood the term pro-life. These so-called pro-lifers are pro-life until the baby is actually born. And then who gives a damn.

I actually got into an argument with someone on this site. He accused liberals of aborting babies all day long, but not supporting the death penalty. My response, and it's relevant here too, I don't understand how a party that is pro-life can be so quick to want to take it away. If you believe that all life is sacred, then all life is sacred, even the less that exemplary ones.

[SeekerOne]

All life is sacred unless it's unfortunate enough to be blown to bits by a "liberty" bomb.